Will Physical Therapy Help or Aggravate My Arthritis?
When you have arthritis, every day can look like a pathway of pain. Physical therapy can help when you’re struggling with chronic joint pain, but can it also harm? Here’s what you should know.
The Link Between Digestion Problems and Neuropathy
Digestive issues are no joke. From constipation and bloating to uncontrollable irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or stomach pain, problems with your gut can make day-to-day life feel more than uncomfortable. Your digestive problems can have many causes, including a nerve condition.
When neuropathy is the culprit, Dr. Ajay Kumar and our team at New Jersey Advanced Pain Management Center can help you manage symptoms, making your life easier and relieving pain and discomfort. Dr. Kumar specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of neuropathy and works to address the condition that may be underlying your digestive disorder to bring you relief.
Neuropathy that affects your digestive system
There are several different types of neuropathy. Peripheral neuropathy, the most common, can affect people with long-term diabetes or circulation issues, causing numbness, tingling, or pain in your extremities, often your legs and feet.
Autonomic neuropathy targets things your body does naturally, without your active participation. These include moderation of your perspiration, heart rate, blood pressure, and digestive processes.
Enteric neuropathy directly affects your digestive system. Damage to the vagus nerve and its branches can cause a host of digestive issues that may run the entire length of your gut, causing problems before, during, and after eating.
Causes of neuropathy
There are many underlying causes of neuropathy, including:
- Autoimmune diseases, like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis
- Metabolic syndrome or diabetes
- Viral or bacterial diseases such as shingles, Lyme disease, or diphtheria
- Tumors (either malignant or benign) that press on nerves
- Bone marrow disorders like lymphoma
- Kidney or liver disease
- Underactive thyroid
Trauma or malnutrition may also lead to neuropathy.
Treating neuropathy
Treating the underlying condition may improve your neuropathy symptoms. The amount of improvement depends on the amount of nerve damage that’s already been done.
If treating the cause of neuropathy doesn’t relieve your symptoms, Dr. Kumar can treat the gastrointestinal symptoms themselves with pain relief methods including medications, physical therapy, and injections to quiet “loud” nerves and interrupt their signals to your brain.
Digestive problems consistent with neuropathy
Common symptoms of neuropathy that affect the stomach and intestines include:
- Frequent or constant stomach pain
- Difficulty swallowing
- Early satiety (feeling full after just a few bites of food)
- Regurgitating undigested food
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Bowel urgency
- Bloating or abdominal swelling
- Acid reflux
If you have multiple digestive symptoms that fit these parameters, and also have peripheral neuropathy or a disease that causes peripheral neuropathy, you could be suffering from enteric neuropathy.
Are digestive symptoms making your every moment a misery? The team at New Jersey Advanced Pain Management Center can help recommend the right treatment approach for you. Please schedule an appointment by contacting our team in Hackettstown, New Jersey, or Matamoras, Pennsylvania, today.
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